Anthony Warrior was making his way through thick green stalks when he video called me one day in early fall.
“They’re grilling corn right now,” he said, gesturing toward an unseen fire where several of his friends, acquaintances, and fellow Native food defenders were enjoying some of the fruits of their labor.
I asked where he was, and he smiled.
“I’m here in Nebraska. And I’m wherever the sun meets the earth. I go wherever food is appreciated and wherever people are willing to let me plant seeds,” he said. “Right this moment, I’m around 41st and Grant, the old permaculture area.”
Warrior seems at peace among the network of growers who always ensure he has a place to, as the kids say, touch grass. He was surrounded by melons, sunflowers, beans, and a vibrant community that has held on with both hands, regardless of what life has thrown at them. A far cry from the cityscape where he could feel life escaping him.
“We live among monoculture at its finest,” Warrior said. “Where we can go outside and smell every chemical in the air. We’re no different from plants, we absorb everything around us. I look around and have to ask, are my children going to be alright among this? Are my family members who are struggling with cancer going to be alright? The stress of everything, of having to rely on convenience foods – once you eat those highly addicting foods, you’re hungry again in another hour. Our foods are engineered to hit the components the brain craves, the sugar, salt, fat. I can’t compete with those foods.”
But Warrior is willing to try, and he knows that education and connection are the strongest tools in his arsenal.
“We have some of our young people very interested in rejuvenating our lifestyle.” He said. “We’ll never go back to buckskin times – especially in displacement. Our culture has been able to carry it with them, to innovate. Our youth is giving us hope.”
He gestured again to the land he walked throughout our conversation.
“This will be transformed into a living learning lab out here for the community,” Warrior said of the space he occupied. “It will be for anyone interested in embracing the culture.”
The chef, entrepreneur, and educator keeps his plate extremely full, between his catering and consulting company, WarriorsPalate, and his countless speaking engagements. Wherever there are people hungry for a chance to deepen their understanding of Indigenous culture, Native food, and improving their lives by living closer to earth, he’s there. He speaks with authority that never shames the listener for what they didn’t know. A true steward of the planet and representative of the people who inhabit it, he understands the intrinsic link between protecting the food we eat, and the food we eat protecting us in return.
“We walk among people who don’t know their culture runs deep because we’re so taught and programmed to be of convenience,” Warrior said. “We have no idea what it feels like to touch that main element of life, natural food. We’re trying to reconnect to it. If people could see what the demand is here in Omaha – There is an outcry for access to real food grown well. But trying to feed our elders and the children our food – they have lost their connection, and they don’t want it anymore. To put bison on their plate, the elders look at that and they think that’s a hardship. When you take away a people’s food, trauma eating becomes their new struggle.”
And with statistics showing nearly 16% of the North American population battling diabetes and nearly half of the population suffering some form of cardiovascular or coronary artery disease, the effects of convenience foods is having a profound and deadly impact on us all.
His own mission goes beyond serving the recipes handed down by word of mouth through generations. Warrior makes an effort not only to provide sustenance, but true food for thought. His meals come with deep instruction on why the ingredients were chosen, why the pairings were made, who this food is intended to heal.
“There’s an elderberry tree here, up by the front gate,” he said. “Louie (one of the growers) told me to grab some. He said it’s good for the kidneys, the endocrine system. You eat them whenever nature provides them for you. When you’re connected, your body grows accustomed to the cycle of growing. Your body regulates at its best when you’re connected. But that gets lost in the food system of competitive marketing, eating, getting our food through flavor profiles and preservatives. We’re hurting ourselves. There is nothing we feel anymore of the connections, but those who are living it, we are trying to, and we’re trying so hard to share it with anyone who will listen to us.”
And for anyone willing to hear, Warrior is sharing clear, engaging, and actionable knowledge through events like September’s No More Empty Pots chef collaboration, where Warrior served Bison and summer squash soup, and engagements as Nebraska Indian Community College’s Director of Indianpreneuriship.
“The knowledge isn’t mine, it’s been given to me,” Warrior said. “That’s a gift I’ve received, having a voice and the ability to talk to people. I have to use that however I can, and right now I’m using it to get Native entrepreneurs ready for business, and to talk to our youth about better ways to connect to one another, to earth, to the food we eat and the foods we are supposed to be eating.”
You can follow Anthony Warrior on Facebook to book him for speaking engagements, consulting, or for an unforgettable night of delicious cuisine that will leave you more nourished in body and spirit.